Word: unrest
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...attempt to overthrow the government." With that piece of hyperbole by an information official, South Africa last week imposed one of the most draconian censorship policies in the non-Communist world. Only six months after it had decreed a harsh emergency rule in an effort to quell rising racial unrest, the government of State President P.W. Botha now sought to shroud the country's apartheid-torn society in a veil of secrecy and intimidation. Though the move was aimed principally at curtailing the domestic and foreign press, its overall intent was to cut off South Africa, its people...
...sweeping new regulations. There, while a warm summer sun bathed the administrative capital, they were handed a 24-page document whose terms were to go into effect on Dec. 11. The new regulations prohibit journalists from being "on the scene, or at a place within sight of any unrest, restricted gathering or security action" without permission of security officials. They forbid the reporting of "subversive" comments by those advocating a wide range of antigovernment actions. They ban the photographing of dead people, property damage or any other "visible signs" of unrest. Violations of the tough new restrictions can be punishable...
...effect is that the South African government now controls everything that is published or broadcast from that country. The government's intent is clear: to censor the fact of censorship, to so limit access to information that whites will have no idea of the scope of unrest in Black areas. That goal may seem implausible to foreigners, but apartheid means "separation" for a reason. With few exceptions, there is no indication of unrest in the areas in which whites live and work...
...restrictions do not stop with the press. It is now illegal for South Africans even to speak in opposition to government policy or to discuss "unrest" in a private conversation--that is, not without prior permission from a government official. Big Brother could not have imagined more thorough subversion of freedom of thought and of conscience...
Ross said that drives for educational material were important because so many young people have fled South Africa because of the unrest around the schools there...